Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham

1And the high priests said; Are these things so?

2And he said, Men, brothers and fathers, hear ye; The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, while he was in Mesopotamia, before he migrated into Haran, and He said to him; 3Come out from thy country and from thy kindred, and come hither into the land which I will show unto thee. 4And after his father died he migrated himself thence into this country in which you now dwell, 5and God gave him no inheritance in it, not the step of his foot; and he promised to give it to him, and his seed after him, for an inheritance, there being no child to him. 6And thus God spoke, that his seed shall sojourn in a strange land, and they will enslave it and oppress it four hundred years. 7And the nation whom they shall serve I will judge, says God, and after these things they shall come out and serve me in this place. 8And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so he begat Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac, Jacob; and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.

Joseph Sold into Egypt

9And the patriarchs, envying Joseph, sold him into Egypt: 10and God was with him, and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him grace and wisdom before Pharaoh the king of Egypt; and he placed him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11And the famine came into all the land and Canaan, and great distress: and our fathers found no sustenance. 12And Jacob hearing that there is food in Egypt, sent away our fathers first. 13And the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren, and his race became manifest to Pharaoh. 14And Joseph sending, called to him Jacob his father, and all the family, seventy-five souls.

Israel Oppressed in Egypt

15And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he and our fathers died there. 16And they were carried over into Shechem, and buried in a tomb which Abraham purchased from the sons of Emmor in Shechem with a sum of money.

17When the time of the promise which God made with Abraham drew nigh, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18until another king arose over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. 19He dealing fraudulently with our race, afflicted our fathers, that they should expose their infants, so that they should not live.

The Birth and Adoption of Moses
(Hebrews 11:23–29)

20During which time Moses was born, and was beautiful to God; who was kept three months in the house of his father. 21And he being exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him, and adopted him for a son to herself. 22And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and was mighty in his words and works.

The Rejection and Flight of Moses

23And when the time of the fortieth year was fulfilled to him, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24And seeing a certain one suffering affliction, he interposed, and executed vengeance in behalf of the oppressed one, slaying the Egyptian. 25And he supposed that his brethren would understand that God through his hand is giving them salvation: but they did not recognize it. 26On the following day, he appeared to them fighting, and undertook to reduce them to peace, saying, Men, you are brethren; therefore do not injure one another. 27And the one injuring his neighbor thrust him away, saying, Who appointeth you a leader and a judge over us? 28whether do you wish to kill me, in the manner in which you slew the Egyptian yesterday? 29And at this word Moses fled, and became a sojourner in the land of Midia, where he begat two sons.

The Call of Moses

30And forty years having passed away, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai in the flame of fire of the bramble bush. 31And Moses, seeing the sight, was astonished: and he coming nigh to investigate, the voice of the Lord came: 32I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembling, did not dare to investigate. 33And the Lord said to him, Loose the sandal of thy feet: for the place on which thou standest is holy ground. 34Seeing, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and heard their groaning, and have come down to deliver them. And come now, I will send thee into Egypt.

35And this Moses whom they denied, saying, Who hath established thee a ruler and a judge? him hath God sent a ruler and deliverer, with the hand of an angel having appeared unto him in a bush. 36He led them out, doing wonders and miracles in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. 37This Moses is the one having said to the sons of Israel, A prophet will God raise up to you of your brethren, like unto me. 38And this is the one being in the church in the wilderness with the angel speaking to him in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the living oracles to give unto us;

The Rebellion of Israel

39to whom our fathers were not willing to be obedient, but thrust him away, and turned back in their hearts towards Egypt, 40saying to Aaron, Make us gods who shall go before us: for this Moses, who led us out from the land of Egypt, we know not what happened to him. 41And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42And God turned away, and gave them up to serve the host of the heaven; as has been written in the book of the prophets: Slain victims and sacrifices you have not brought unto me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel. 43And ye took up the shrine of Moloch, and the star of the god Remphan, images which you made to worship them; and I will transport you beyond Babylon.

The Tabernacle of the Testimony
(Hebrews 9:1–10)

44And the tabernacle of testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, as the one speaking to Moses commanded him to make it according to the example he had seen; 45which our fathers receiving, brought in along with Joshua in the dispossession of the nations, whom God drove out, from the face of our fathers, until the days of David, 46who found favor before God, and asked that he should build a tabernacle for the house of Jacob. 47But Solomon built a house for him. 48But the Most High dwelleth not in houses built with hands, as the prophet says,

49Heaven is my throne, and earth the footstool of my feet: What house will you build for me? says the Lord; Or what shall be the place of my rest?

50Hath not my hand made all of these things?

51Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye. 52Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? and they slew those proclaiming concerning the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you became: 53who received the law in the administrations of angels, and did not keep it.

The Stoning of Stephen

54And hearing these words, they were cut through their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, and looking up to heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57And crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears, and unanimously rushed on him, 58and casting him out from the city, they began to stone him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, called Saul: 59and continued to stone Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And putting down his knees, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, do not impute this sin to them. And saying this, he fell asleep.